U.S. luge team loses sleds after practice at Blue Mountain

A U.S. luge team training at a Palmerton-area ski slope lost its sleds last Friday in East Allen Township when the equipment fell out of the back of the truck and was picked up by a passerby, police report.

A U.S. luge team training at a Palmerton-area ski slope lost its sleds last Friday in East Allen Township when the equipment fell out of the back of the truck and was picked up by a passerby, police report.

Members of the U.S. Luge Team Association, based out of Lake Placid, N.Y., were returning to a Lehigh Valley hotel after a day of training at Blue Mountain Ski Area and Resort in Lower Towamensing Township, but the box truck hauling the equipment was not properly secured, police say.

Gordy Sheer, director of marketing and sponsorship for the U.S. Luge Association, said he hadn't properly latched the U-Haul truck when he hooked it up in the pouring rain that night.

In the area of Airport Road near Old Carriage Road, the rear door to the truck opened and five sleds fell onto the road, according to authorities.

"I figured out where they dropped, but I was one step behind,” Sheer said.

A resident in the area reported seeing the sleds lying along the edge of the road. The witness told police a man in a black truck stopped to ask to whom the sleds belonged, police say. When the resident said he didn't know, the man picked up the sleds, placed them in his truck and drove off, police say.

Pennsylvania State Police are asking anyone with information about the sleds to contact the Bethlehem barracks at 610-861-2026 so they can be returned to the team.

The sport, which is among Winter Olympic competitions, requires a rider to lie feet first and face up while traveling down a frozen course, exceeding speeds of 95 miles per hour. Olympic-grade sleds can cost between $800 to $1,000, but Sheer said the athletes were using training sleds, valued at about $400 to $600 apiece.

“I'm operating under the assumption that no one is holding them with any kind of malicious intent,” he said.

Sheer said the nonprofit association doesn't like to “make mistakes like this.”

“We're in the area, trying to recruit young athletes to represent the United States in international competition, including the Olympics,” Sheer said. “Hopefully (whoever took the sleds) can find it in their heart to get this equipment back to us.”

It's the second time in the past two weeks that unusual equipment has fallen onto local roads. A hot air balloon basket fell off a truck Feb. 13 on Interstate 78 in Bethlehem, striking three vehicles on the highway.